WASHINGTON ― A Texas judge on Tuesday dismissed a felony charge brought against two anti-abortion activists who produced controversial sting videos about Planned Parenthood. The county prosecutor’s office requested the dismissal.
A grand jury, which was originally investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood, indicted David Daleiden, a self-proclaimed citizen journalist, and Sandra Merritt, another anti-abortion activist, in January. They were accused of tampering with a government record, which is a felony offense, and Daleiden was charged with attempting to purchase human organs, a misdemeanor.
“The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it,” said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson. However, she said Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury’s time is extended ― which happened in this case ― and “in light of this and after careful research and review,” the indictments were dismissed. (The misdemeanor charges were dismissed last month.)
Daleiden started releasing heavily edited undercover videos about Planned Parenthood in July 2015. The videos featured actors posing as members of a biologics firm, and purported to show Planned Parenthood attempting to profit from the illegal sale of fetal tissue. (Planned Parenthood affiliates in two states legally assist women who have had an abortion in donating fetal tissue for medical research, if they choose to do so.)
Planned Parenthood denied the allegations, and argued the videos were deceptively produced. A video editor spent at least 11 months working on the footage, and activists were accused of setting up a fake company and making fake driver’s licenses. Video and court records obtained by the Los Angeles Times show activists coached an interview subject, and attempted to ply abortion providers with alcohol.
Daleiden and his supporters framed Tuesday’s news as a First Amendment win. “Daleiden used standard undercover journalism techniques and followed all applicable laws in doing so,” said Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society who is representing Daleiden. “Planned Parenthood did wrong here, not David Daleiden,” he added.
Officials in more than a dozen states have launched investigations into Planned Parenthood, but none have found evidence of illegal activity. “The decision to drop the prosecution on a technicality does not negate the fact that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are the extremists behind this fraud,” said Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
The office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris has also been investigating Daleiden, and he still faces multiple civil lawsuits. In February, a U.S. district judge so strongly disagreed with Daleiden’s journalistic methods, according to the Los Angeles Times, he used the words “fraud” or “fraudulently” 13 times to describe them.
This story has been updated to clarify that only Daleiden was charged with the misdemeanor.